SMALL TALK CENTRE
FOR LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

A specialized Early Childhood Intervention Centre
for children with Primary Language Impairments

ELIGIBILITY
 

ELIGIBILITY

The Small Talk Centre is open to children of families who reside in the Vancouver area.

 
Children who most greatly benefit from attending Small Talk include those:
 

- diagnosed by a Speech & Language Pathologist (SLP) with a language delay or disorder (e.g., Specific Language Impairment)
- who have a family history of learning disabilities and show some degree of language delay
- whose language learning needs are best served in a group setting (5:1 child-teacher ratio)
- whose language delays exist in their first language (i.e., ESL)

   
Children whose needs would not be successfully served at Small Talk Centre include those: 
 

- whose learning needs cannot be met in a 5:1 child-teacher ratio
- who present with speech sound production difficulty as the primary concern
- with severe behavioural problems in which behaviour is the primary concern
- whose learning profile / test scores imply a significant cognitive delay
- who have been diagnosed with autism prior to referral
- with permanent hearing impairment (likely sensory-neural)